Springtime: a '57 Chevy with a custom paint job.

Color: It is exotic. It is flashy. It is beautiful.

And oh, is it temporary.

Once upon a time, one color wasn't enough for one car. In the 1950s, cars came in all sorts of exotic color combinations. The body could be half white, half turquoise, with an elaborate interior to match. Or mismatch. Whatever you wanted. And if you couldn't find the color on the lot, no worries. All sorts of custom painters were eager to transform salvaged older cars from the junkyard and paint over the solid black with a whole array of fluorescent fury.

No longer. The roads today are filled with an endless monotony of black, white, and sometimes silver cars. A few models come red, a few more might come in blue. How did people become afraid of color?

Such a beautiful thing is gold, but alas, nothing gold can stay. For about a week, Nicole and I treated ourselves the chromatic symphony of reds, blues, purples and yellows during cherry blossom season at the New York Botanical Gardens.